2012 is coming to an end, and even though we still haven’t received word regarding new consoles from Sony and Microsoft, and nothing drastically changed in the realm of PC gaming hardware, a few gaming-related events still took the year by storm. From start to finish, 2012 ended up being a pretty awesome year for gamers.

Here is Geek.com’s list of the biggest developments in gaming in 2012. Some catapulted the industry forward while others showed how difficult it is for the industry to change. Regardless of their effect, each was very big news.

Double Fine Kickstarter

Before Kickstarter, indie developers had a much harder time raising funds. When Tim Schafer’s (of adventure gaming fame) Double Fine studio took to Kickstarter for an upcoming adventure game, it became (at the time) the first real video game success to hit the crowdfunding engine. It essentially started the trend of video games getting successfully crowdfunded — and at a high monetary value — paving the way for video game projects that ended up smashing its funding record.

New consoles

2012 saw the release of three new consoles: The PlayStation Vita, the Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U. Unfortunately, the Wii U was hit with a host of issues at launch, and the 3DS and PS Vita are not only struggling in the face of the rise of the phone and tablet gaming industry, but are dealing with a lackluster and relatively sparse software library. However, consoles tend to face adversity upon launch anyway, and the sooner they release, the sooner they’ll be able to prosper. Thanks largely to Nintendo, 2012 marked the beginning of the eighth console generation.

Museum of Modern Art officially adds video games to collection

In a move that most likely irritated Roger Ebert, MoMa added fourteen video games to its collection, officially recognizing video games as art. As for the picks, MoMa really seemed to know what it was doing, adding games as obscure as Dwarf Fortress, ones as hardcore as EVE Online, and old and new classics like Pac-Man and Portal. MoMa also announced it wasn’t stopping there, looking to acquire other classics, like Tim Schafer’s Grim Fandango and Markus Persson’s Minecraft. Thanks to MoMa, this is the year we could finally call games art and have a prominent art organization agree.